You set up a grill, perhaps near a bar or some other place where hungry people with more money than scruples tend to congregate. Then you feed them — for free. If they like what they're eating, they pay what they like. There's no sit-down service, no fixed price, no expectations.

But Teau Frederic, known as the local godfather of culinary busking, said it's not that simple.

"You can’t just put peas in a pot," he said.

Frederic's dishes include decadent burgers, Creole and vegetarian fare, like a signature marinated and grilled carrot, served in a bun.

The food is offered up free. But the unspoken rule is that feedback should come in the form of cash. "It's food talent for tips," Frederic is fond of saying.

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Teau Frederic, "the king of food busking," at Burger Bar April 19, 2017.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizen-times.com)

The recipe for success is a passion for food. And an infectious rhythm. Just like in musical busking, a part of what people are paying for is performance.

"We started in with such a rhythm, people liked coming out to watch it happen," said Frederic, who started cooking for tips after an injury sidelined him from his regular job as a doorman.

There's pressure too.

"It's kind of like being at a food competition every day, but you’re the only competitor," Frederic said. "It really keeps you on your toes."

Competition is part of the impetus behind an upcoming culinary busking cookoff Frederic is pulling together at The Burger Bar, a bar with no burgers except for what culinary buskers turn out on weekends and Wednesdays.

The winner of The Burger Bar Busking Festival, June 24, gets to use the grill at the heart of Frederic's Teaufood Culinary Busking business, plus the choice of open busking shifts at the bar.

Frederic said the idea is to share some of the passion and authenticity he sees in Asheville's nascent culinary busking scene.

"If you’re authentic and talented, you’re going to get a positive response," he said.

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Teau Frederic, "the king of food busking," at Burger Bar April 19, 2017.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizen-times.com)

Sometimes an exceptionally positive response can generate much more than tips.

In the case of Salt and Smoke, now the house restaurant for Burial Beer Co. on the South Slope, busking bought a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

Owners Josiah and Shannon McGaughey moved from Chicago to Asheville, but had a hard time finding the right space for the restaurant they wanted to open.

In the meantime, the husband-and-wife team hosted pay-what-you-want pop-ups at Burial Beer.

"We took an opportunity that was presented to us, and figured it would be a great way to get our names out there and test the product," said Shannon McGaughey.

Salt and Smoke wasn't a "real" restaurant, per se. But running it still came with plenty of pressure. "I knew we liked our food, but would anyone else?" she recalled.

Salt and Smoke, even as a donation-only pop-up eatery, wasn't afraid to push the envelope with dishes like porchetta with toasted oats. “Most of the time people were looking at the chalkboard and saying, 'My god what’s happening here?' Most of the time that’s a good thing," McGaughey said.

People came, and then longer lines. Soon, regulars appeared.

In November 2015, Burial Beer approached the owners with a proposal: be our full-time food operation.